Don Ghiz Invites Members to Attend the May Meeting and Watch for Pests

Hello everyone,

Welcome to May 2025. This month’s meeting will hopefully enlighten us all about how the Houston Orchid Society is to grow in an uncertain environment of personal pressures from work, school, home, and so many duties that take us away from our hobby. That said, I would make an argument that those pressures make being active in the hobby even more important. I’m optimistic that we will find a way to grow in a very time-competitive environment. The meeting is only a few days away (Thursday, May 1).

Let’s turn our attention to our orchids. It’s May, and they deserve attention after their springtime growth. I’m reminded that insects such as slugs, snails, scale, mealy bugs—well, the list goes on—are recovering from winter and are hungry. Please take a moment to look closely at your collection. Examine the undersides of leaves where these culprits hide from us. It’s beyond the scope of this message to detail treatments, but the Internet and, indeed, the AOS website can be a big help. My only caution is to follow label directions closely and always repeat applications in a week or two because many insect larvae are not affected by the treatment that kills adults. So it’s important to hit them again after they have hatched and before reaching reproductive age.